Baseball
out ball, walking one while striking out five and for the tournament pitched 7 1.3 innings of four-hit, one-run ball, earning a win and a save. Malone was joined on the All-Tournament team by John Roberts and Ethan Bader, who hurled a four-hit complete game 5-1 win over Francis Marion on Saturday to put the Pirates into the championship game. Box Score
PBC All-Tournament Team
Buddy Sosnoskie, Francis Marion Michael Wilson, Francis Marion Josh Miller, USC Aiken Wyatt Brown, USC Aiken Patrick Grady, Lander Chris Thomas, Lander Ethan Bader, Armstrong John Roberts, Armstrong
Most Valuable PLayer
Chess Malone, Armstrong
NCAA Tournament: Jordan helps Patriots avoid Pirate Attack
(5/17/12) MOUNT OLIVE, NC – Junior right-hander Spencer Jordan pitched seven strong innings and senior second baseman Brock McCallister collected three hits and a pair of two-out RBIs to lead fourthseeded and sixth-ranked Francis Marion University to an 11-2 win over third-seeded and seventh-ranked Armstrong Atlantic State University, Thursday morning (May 17) in a first-round game at the 2012 NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Baseball Tournament.
Sophomore shortstop Michael Wilson, junior third baseman Stephen Tarkenton, junior catcher Jacob Golliday, and senior designated hitter Brian Paulhus all had two hits. That 16-hit attack backed the pitching of Jordan (10-4) who allowed only one earned run on four hits in seven innings. He struck out four and walked three. Junior righty Don Sandifer finished the contest with two hitless and scoreless frames.
Armstrong southpaw Chandler Hall (9-3), who beat the Patriots during the regular season in Savannah, took the loss on Thursday. He surrendered six runs (four earned) on eight hits in six innings. FMU took a 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning. Tarkenton singled up the middle with one out. Golliday followed with a double to left field that advanced Tarkenton to third, and both runners continued around to score when the relay throw was wild and rolled all the way to the right field line. The advantage increased to 3-0 in the fifth when Paulhus was hit by a pitch, moved to second on a bunt single by Luke Tollison, and crossed home plate on McCallister’s first two-out base hit. Jordan did not allow his first hit until R.J. Dennard led off the bottom of the fifth with a single to left center.
The six-team, doubleelimination tournament is being hosted by Mount Olive College on its Scarborough Field.
Francis Marion (38-16) advances to face the Tusculum/Catawba winner on Friday at 7 p.m. FMU snaps string of tournamentopening losses as the Francis Marion’s Brock Mcallister Three consecutive runPatriots had dropped their scoring singles by Golliday, first game in each of their Tyler Boyd, and Paulhus expanded the Francis Marion past five post-season tournaments dating back to the lead to 6-0 in the top of the sixth. Armstrong loaded 2009 NCAA regional at USC Aiken. the bases with no outs in the bottom of the frame, but Jordan escaped by allowing only one run – that on an Armstrong (40-15) will meet the Mount Olive/Lander RBI groundout by catcher John Roberts. winner on Friday at 3 p.m. McCallister finished the game 3-for-6 with a run scored and the two driven in. He led a Patriot lineup that all saw every starter get at least one hit and seven different player record RBIs.
Francis Marion plated four runs in the top of the eighth, started by junior Rhodes Dickerson’s first extra-base hit as a Patriot, a double to left center that drove home Paulhus. Altogether, FMU was 8-for-14 with runners in scoring position. 171